Metal Saga, the latest game of the Metal Max series and
first of its kind to reach North America, stars a young, nameless
lad who desires to follow in the footsteps of his father and be
a famous hunter. Starting out in Junkyard, penurious, gearless,
and vehicleless, he has a long road ahead of him to reach the level
of his father's renown. Luckily, the world is full of potential
friends, companions, quests, random abandoned tanks, outlaws, and
bizarre descendants of unholy consummations betwixt man/machine/plant/cyborg/weaponry/all
of the above. Oh yes. And bazooka dogs.

The background info on the world is fairly simplistic. With a failing
environment, humans built a supercomputer named Noah to reason out
a method of restoring ecological balance. After running countless
simulations, Noah came to the conclusion that the only solution
was the final solution: wiping out humanity and violating that pesky
First Law of Robotics. The resulting war between maker and makee
became known as the Great Destruction. Mankind was nearly wiped
out, and the remnants now struggle to survive in this post-apocalyptic
world, fighting against the remnants of Noah's army.

Metal Saga presents an open-ended, non-linear form of gameplay,
and it is completely up to players to direct the path of the youth's
journey. While this does offer the opportunity for great exploration
of a fairly detailed world filled with humorous characters and dialogue,
it disappointingly skimps on a cohesive plot that would enjoin the
player to continue moving forward. What little plot exists is sadly
clichéd and unoriginal: saving the world from an apocalypse.
Er, second apocalypse. Anyone know the plural of apocalypse?

Punks in the wasteland
must die.

Along the way, this youth will find a number of companions but
be limited in the number he can take with him on the journey. The
first and perhaps most important recruit is a mechanic, someone
skilled in the very necessary art of vehicle repair and maintenance.
The third member is a soldier: either a busty gunslinger or a swordsman
of the Persian persuasion. And finally, with enough looking, one
can come across the results of a mysterious research program: the
bazooka dog. Of course, the dog is non-controllable and has a very
yellow belly, but he will still chip in and do some damage occasionally.

But no matter how strong the characters, nothing beats being surrounded
by several tons of pure destructive firepower. From the humble Buggy
to the rather odd Wild Bus, Metal Saga features over a dozen
different vehicles of various capabilities. Vehicles can be equipped
for three different types of attack: sub gun, main gun, and SE.
The sub is a basic attack, a little weaker than the other two but
uses no ammunition. The main gun usually packs the biggest punch,
but it is limited by the amount of shells that can be carried; SE
works the same way except that it is usually aimed at taking down
a particular type of enemy: airborne, sheltered, stealth, or the
like. The vehicle chassis determines how many and what type of weapons
may be equipped; all vehicles must be equipped with an engine (determines
the load a vehicle can manage) and a C-Unit (determines the defense
of the vehicle).

During the turn-based battles, characters can fight on foot or
inside their vehicles, assuming that they are not in an area inaccessible
to vehicles. Vehicles take damage that results in the loss of armor
plates, and the loss of all plates will result in vehicle parts
being damaged, perhaps even to non-functionality. Armor cannot be
replenished in battle, but a mechanic with a Quick Fix skill can
sometimes restore broken equipment. If vital parts are broken, then
the character is ejected and forced to fight on foot. The tradeoff
is that characters on foot have access to their customizable skillset,
though each usage costs money that is subtracted from overall winnings.

She has a gun.

While all the customization options are a nice feature, battles
themselves tend to be a bit of a drag. Given its open exploration
nature, it is quite possible to accidentally find oneself supremely
outgunned at any given time. Furthermore, the nature of leveling
up discourages forays into stronger areas. Levels are gained for
every one hundred points of experience; experience is determined
by character strength inversely proportional to monster strength.
Weak enemies relative to character level grant very little experience,
sometimes just a single point; it would follow that strong enemies
grant lots of experience, but Metal Saga puts a cap on experience
gained. No matter how much stronger the enemy, a character can only
gain twenty-five points of experience.

Since the overarching plot is little more than a series of coincidences
strung together, most of the playing time will be spent in various
questing activities: modding the vehicle, finding a teddy bear,
trying to locate ancient artifacts, hunting down Outlaws, etc. Of
the options, hunting down the thirty plus Outlaws will likely be
the most enjoyable. Outlaws are basically boss monsters wanted by
the Hunter's Office; bagging one nets a reward, often quite substantial.
Unfortunately, finding some Outlaws is a trick in and of itself,
and, once found, Outlaws tend to use rather cheap tactics that can
render themselves invulnerable to all but a very specific type of
weapon.

Graphically, Metal Saga does not push the PS2 to its limit,
but it does provide a distinctive barren atmosphere. Monster designs
are particularly well done, but dungeon areas become quite repetitive.
Despite the anime-style introduction, the game boasts no cut-scenes
or FMV sequences.

Aurally, Metal Saga features a handful of distinctive tracks
that are enjoyable and fit the mood of the game. Regrettably, these
tracks are consistently overused and become wearisome by game's
end. The game does not feature voice acting.

In terms of replayability, Metal Saga boasts a fair number
of diverse endings to achieve. Finishing the "main" ending
will result in a cleared game save file that can be continued to
find more endings or simply to hunt down the remaining Outlaws.
The game also features a dozen mini-games of varying originality.
Metal Saga is only recommended for RPGamers needing something
a little different from the RPG norm, a game that focuses on tinkering
and exploration in a post-apocalyptic world.